


tells

by Jelly



Category: The Dragon Prince (Cartoon)
Genre: (the card game), (you know the one), Gen, bullshit
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-11-25
Updated: 2020-11-25
Packaged: 2021-03-09 18:01:56
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,827
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27710402
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Jelly/pseuds/Jelly
Summary: “It’s a game,” says Ezran, shuffling the cards in his hand. “Soren taught me. I… wondered if you knew how to play too.”
Relationships: Aanya & Ezran (The Dragon Prince), Callum & Ezran (The Dragon Prince), Callum/Rayla (The Dragon Prince), Claudia & Ezran (The Dragon Prince), Ezran & Rayla (The Dragon Prince), Ezran & Soren (The Dragon Prince)
Comments: 9
Kudos: 58





	tells

**Author's Note:**

> there's no way i'm getting this done in time for ez appreciation week but i wanted to put _something_ up this week so instead of my usual 5 part one shot, this is just a 5 part fic that i can take my own time finishing. sorry i couldn't get it all done team! it's been a bit nuts on my end!

i.

There’s a game that Soren teaches Ezran one quiet summer afternoon. 

It’s a rare moment of respite for both of them. Usually Ez is inundated with meetings and politics and peace keeping efforts, and Soren has his hands full with castle security, but in the early August of Ez’s second year as king, the hustle and bustle settles enough for them to find themselves in the throne room with… nothing to do. 

It’s so strange that Ez hardly believes it. There’s very little opportunity to be bored in this job, and his fingers twitch on his lap, unused to being so unoccupied. He wonders if it’s the heat. Perhaps the stillness in the summer air is contagious, and the rest of the world has stilled with it. Perhaps it’s something more sinister. Surely an afternoon like this isn’t something that occurs naturally. It’s too quiet. Too surreal. Ez doesn’t trust it.

But the afternoon wears on. Opeli is seeing to her clerical duties for the first time in what feels like months. Corvus is helping Aunt Amaya with the demilitarisation of the Breach. Callum hasn’t been in the mood to do anything like this for a while. It’s just him and Bait and Soren in the throne room, and there’s little to do but bear the heat as they while the hours away.

“We could train?” Soren offers. He’s lounging against the dais, pauldrons shed and dumped at his feet, looking so unprofessional and improper that Ez is certain Opeli would scold him for it, if she were here—but she’s not, and honestly, Ez doesn’t care. His own shirt is sticky against his back and sitting back against the throne traps warmth there that makes him squirm. He can’t even imagine how uncomfortable wearing armour would be. “No offense, but your form still needs work. Even Callum’s was better.” 

Ordinarily Ez might have scowled at him. It’s true to a certain extent—he’s not very good at sword fighting  _ at all _ but he  _ has _ been getting better, thank you very much. It’s an important skill to have as a king and he takes it more seriously than Callum ever did—but the very idea of being outside in this weather makes his skin prickle more than it already is “It’s too hot to train,” he whines. “It’s too hot for  _ anything. _ It’s no wonder there’s nothing else on.”

“Yeah, well, sitting around all day isn’t doing it for me either.” Soren huffs. He shifts on the spot, grimacing at the unpleasant dampness collecting in his joints. “Gods, I didn’t think it was possible to be so  _ bored. _ ”

“Mm.” Ezran purses his lips and eyes the way Bait is sprawled happily over the carpet. Being a glow toad has its perks after all—this humidity is  _ excellent _ for his skin, and this is the least grumpy he’s looked since last summer. Ez doesn’t think he’s ever envied him so much. He shuffles lazily on the throne and toes open drawer in the side table to his right out of boredom. In it are a bunch of spare pieces for the strategy board, a folded up chess set, and, there, in the corner, is a pack of cards, red and gold and embossed with the sigil of the uneven towers.

They were his dad’s once, he thinks. Ez has fleeting memories of interrupting him playing with Viren ages and ages ago. He reaches for them, his movements sluggish in the summer heat but curious all the same. “Know any games?” 

“We’re not playing Hide and Seek.”

“It’s too hot for  _ that _ ,” grumbles Ez. He tosses the deck in Soren’s general sort of direction, and Soren, excellent Crownguard that he is, catches it deftly out of the air. “I meant, like, card games. Something stupid and fun to kill time where we don’t have to move.”

Soren pauses there, lips pressed together in a thoughtful kind of frown because yes, he  _ does _ know a bunch of card games and Ez  _ knows _ he does, but some of them aren’t so…  _ appropriate _ for a twelve year old king. Usually there’s gambling or alcohol involved, neither of which are particularly appealing to Ez  _ anyway _ , but surely not  _ all _ card games are like that and there must be  _ something  _ they can play to pass the time.

“I know  _ one, _ ” says Soren after a moment. “It’s better with more people but we can manage with two.”

“Bait can play.”

“Three, then.” He heaves himself off the steps of the dais, unboxes the deck, and then fans the cards against the flagstones with a grace Ez didn’t realize he had. “It’s a game about skill and strategy and relies on tricking your opponents into believing you have what you say you have.”

Ez cocks his head at him. “It’s a game about lying?”

“ _And_ skill,” says Soren pointedly. “ _And_ strategy. But—” He clucks his tongue. “Yeah, mostly lying. _Technically,_ it’s about _cheating_ although that probably doesn’t make it sound better.” He makes a face, then shrugs. “Do you want to learn to play or not?” 

Ez hesitates. Lying and cheating aren’t traditionally part of his skillset, and there are lots of things he’s learned on the job but he goes out of his way very specifically to  _ not  _ do those. It’s not a great look on a king, and while he knows it’s just a game and it’s just for fun, he can’t help but feel… kinda bad about it.

Soren rolls his eyes patiently. “Try to think about it more politically. You might not want to lie and cheat but people have tried that on you and you gotta know how to catch them out. Being able to tell is a pretty useful skill to have. That sounds a little more legit, right?” 

“I… suppose,” says Ez, because he’s got a point. He’s a young king, and people try to take advantage of his youth and naivete all the time. Maybe Soren’s right after all, and in any case, anything to take their mind off the heat is a good thing, right? 

He slides off the throne with a huff and crosses his legs on the flagstones. “What’s it called?” he asks, tugging Bait over.

Bait grumbles at him, but he doesn’t complain when Soren pats his head.

“Bullsh—uh— _ Cheat _ ,” Soren says. “It’s pretty popular with some of the other Crownguard. Basically, I deal out this deck and we put cards face down and tell each other what cards they are whether we have those cards or not. If you catch someone lying, they pick up all the cards in the middle, but if you accuse someone and you’re  _ wrong _ , you pick up the cards. Winner is the person who loses their hand first. Make sense?” 

“Seems pretty straightforward, I guess,” says Ez. “It might be easier to learn if we play a couple of rounds.”

“You’ll get it. I’ll help you.” Soren winks as he starts to deal, which doesn’t make Ez feel better in the least because, while Soren’s pretty cool normally, he’s  _ definitely _ a better liar than Ez, and if this game’s about cheating, then… well… he’s not so sure he’s in good hands. 

But Soren finishes dealing, fiddles with his cards for a bit, and grins. “I’ll start,” he says, pulling two cards from the middle of his hand. “Two aces. Now it’s your turn. You can put down whatever you like as long as you say it’s the next number up.”

Ez stares down at his hand. “Seems easy enough,” he says, selecting the two of diamonds by his pinky. “One two?”

“Perfect!” says Soren. “Now it’s Bait’s turn.”

It’s pretty straightforward from there. Ez props Bait’s cards up in a crack in the stones and lays them face down as per his instruction, but it’s not until three rounds in that things start to get hard. Ez hasn’t had a reason to lie all game, but his hand is starting to dwindle and he’s missing all the numbers from six to ten. Soren’s looking pretty determined, and his smirk means he can  _ tell _ , and Bait looks between the two of them with suspicion in his permanent frown.

“One six,” says Soren.

Ez sets his jaw. “Do the other Crownguard really play this so often? Two sevens.”

“It’s a favourite,” says Soren, as Bait grunts and Ez picks out the cards he wants. “This is probably the least—uh—” He pauses. Ez thinks he wants to say  _ unsavoury _ but knows it won’t come out sounding good  _ at all. _ “It’s just a good game,” he says in the end. “We— _ they _ don’t call it Cheat, though. ”

“One eight,” Ez says, on behalf of Bait. Then he snorts. “I’m not  _ that _ young, Soren. You can say  _ bullshit. _ ”

The  _ horror _ that crosses Soren’s face as the word leaves Ez lips almost makes him laugh. His eyes go wide, his face pales, he fumbles with his cards and almost drops his remaining hand.  _ “Why do you know that word?” _ he hisses.

Ez smirks at him. “I’m twelve, not stupid.”

“You can  _ not _ let Opeli hear you say that.”

“Why? Do you think she’d lose her mind if she heard me say ‘ _ bullshit’ _ ?” Ez’s smirk grows wider. “It’s your turn.”

_ “Stop _ ,” whines Soren. “Look, you’re the king and I can’t tell you what to do, but  _ please _ , Ez, Opeli’ll  _ kill _ me if she hears you say it. Who  _ else _ would you have heard it from?”

“Aunt Amaya,” says Ez pointedly. “Commander Gren has to censor her all the time. Then there’s you, Corvus, Callum—”

“That’s not the  _ point _ , Ez!”

“She’ll never know it was you,” grins Ez. “In any case, it wasn’t. You’re not the only one around here with a potty mouth. It could have been anyone. Are you going to play or what?”

Soren takes a breath, obviously unconvinced, but Ez spots it then—the little downturn of his lips, the shift of his eyes, the twitch in his hands as he lays down his cards. “Two nines.  _ Swear  _ to me you won’t say that in front of Opeli.”

“Say what?” asks Ez. “Bullshit?”

“ _ Ezran. _ ”

Ez snorts at him and reaches over the pile of cards to the two Soren’s just played. He flips them with a flourish, revealing a Jack and a three, two very clear  _ not  _ tens, and  _ laughs _ . “Those are yours,” he says, his smirk smug as he pushes the pile of cards over. 

Soren stares at him, then at the cards, then at him again. The realization dawns on his face slowly, and his eyes narrow like he can’t decide if he’s scandalized or impressed. He scowls in the end. “No,” he grumbles. “ _ No.  _ This one doesn’t count. You did that on  _ purpose. _ You  _ cheated. _ ”

“Isn’t that the point?”

Soren presses his lips together. He lets out a huff. Then he pulls the pile of cards towards him and mutters, “This  _ is _ bullshit,” under his breath.

**Author's Note:**

> also this has nothing to do with the prompts bc im a goose and forgot basically


End file.
